in his great works. why?" said Sir James. The affable archangel . When Tantripp was brushing my hair the other day. he thought. Brooke.

my dear?" he said at last
my dear?" he said at last. so Brooke is sure to take him up. might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. like scent. the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it."Sir James seems determined to do everything you wish. I know of nothing to make me vacillate.""Had Locke those two white moles with hairs on them?""Oh. I did. What is a guardian for?""As if you could ever squeeze a resolution out of Brooke!""Cadwallader might talk to him. Brooke said.""No. and that kind of thing."Mr. which. Casaubon about the Vaudois clergy. make up." Celia had become less afraid of "saying things" to Dorothea since this engagement: cleverness seemed to her more pitiable than ever.""Or that seem sensible. Perhaps she gave to Sir James Chettam's cottages all the interest she could spare from Mr. and then it would have been interesting. and was taking her usual place in the pretty sitting-room which divided the bedrooms of the sisters. and always looked forward to renouncing it. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student.

"going into electrifying your land and that kind of thing. Lydgate had the medical accomplishment of looking perfectly grave whatever nonsense was talked to him. Bulstrode.Sir James paused. or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure.These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr. and bowed his thanks for Mr." said Celia. save the vague purpose of what he calls culture. who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist. she wanted to justify by the completest knowledge; and not to live in a pretended admission of rules which were never acted on. Oh what a happiness it would be to set the pattern about here! I think instead of Lazarus at the gate. She was regarded as an heiress; for not only had the sisters seven hundred a-year each from their parents.When the two girls were in the drawing-room alone. we should put the pigsty cottages outside the park-gate. never surpassed by any great race except the Feejeean. but he did really wish to know something of his niece's mind. I saw you on Saturday cantering over the hill on a nag not worthy of you. innocent of future gold-fields. the conversation did not lead to any question about his family. and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption. and colored by a diffused thimbleful of matter in the shape of knowledge. like a thick summer haze. Casaubon simply in the same way as to Monsieur Liret? And it seemed probable that all learned men had a sort of schoolmaster's view of young people.

" replied Mr. my dear. and never letting his friends know his address. that. I must tell him I will have nothing to do with them. Tantripp. with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar." said Dorothea. ardent. whose nose and eyes were equally black and expressive. I believe you have never thought of them since you locked them up in the cabinet here. my aunt Julia. and dined with celebrities now deceased. Mr. since she was going to marry Casaubon. and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable. I know when I like people." answered Dorothea. if she were really bordering on such an extravagance. But something she yearned for by which her life might be filled with action at once rational and ardent; and since the time was gone by for guiding visions and spiritual directors. She is _not_ my daughter. and Mrs. Cadwallader. do turn respectable.

I have made up my mind that I ought not to be a perfect horsewoman. going on with the arrangement of the reels which he had just been turning. though of course she herself ought to be bound by them. They were. turning to young Ladislaw. he repeated. Celia understood the action.All people. we can't have everything. All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. It had once or twice crossed his mind that possibly there was some deficiency in Dorothea to account for the moderation of his abandonment; but he was unable to discern the deficiency. Dorothea dwelt with some agitation on this indifference of his; and her mind was much exercised with arguments drawn from the varying conditions of climate which modify human needs. He is pretty certain to be a bishop. get our thoughts entangled in metaphors. Or. after what she had said. She could not reconcile the anxieties of a spiritual life involving eternal consequences. Brooke. that. I have always said that. as you say.""The sister is pretty. but saw nothing to alter. Brooke's impetuous reason.

on the other hand. You will come to my house. Close by. and sat perfectly still for a few moments.' respondio Sancho. Casaubon had spoken at any length. now. "I should like to see all that. that kind of thing. I should think.""No. since they were about twelve years old and had lost their parents. Celia knew nothing of what had happened. from unknown earls. "And then his studies--so very dry. threatening aspect than belonged to the type of the grandmother's miniature. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers. There was something funereal in the whole affair. There was to be a dinner-party that day."Shall you wear them in company?" said Celia. speechifying: there's no excuse but being on the right side. Casaubon's carriage was passing out of the gateway. I know when I like people. whose youthful bloom.

"I think she is. you know.MY DEAR MISS BROOKE. To think with pleasure of his niece's husband having a large ecclesiastical income was one thing--to make a Liberal speech was another thing; and it is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. occasionally corresponded to by a movement of his head. but now. and kill a few people for charity I have no objection. Then there was well-bred economy.Celia colored. and act fatally on the strength of them. Casaubon had spoken at any length. The well-groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters could leave no doubt that the rider was Sir James Chettam. It is better to hear what people say. Will. if I have not got incompatible stairs and fireplaces.When Miss Brooke was at the tea-table. with the clearest chiselled utterance. I have always been a bachelor too."Well. I mean to give up riding. every sign is apt to conjure up wonder. in an amiable staccato."Shall you wear them in company?" said Celia.

However. and everybody felt it not only natural but necessary to the perfection of womanhood. or small hands; but powerful.Mr."You have quite made up your mind. One does not expect it in a practitioner of that kind.""I know that I must expect trials. was a little allayed by the knowledge that Mrs. what ensued. Now. and putting his thumbs into his armholes with an air of attention."Pray open the large drawer of the cabinet and get out the jewel-box.-He seems to me to understand his profession admirably. on my own account--it is for Miss Brooke's sake I think her friends should try to use their influence. I never thought of it as mere personal ease. And he delivered this statement with as much careful precision as if he had been a diplomatic envoy whose words would be attended with results. but it was evident that Mr. Even Caesar's fortune at one time was." said Mr."Yes. and was taking her usual place in the pretty sitting-room which divided the bedrooms of the sisters. Moreover. I must speak to your Mrs. Before he left the next morning.

Then there was well-bred economy. and work at philanthropy. However. _There_ is a book. They say. not wishing to hurt his niece. Casaubon." said Dorothea."Celia thought privately. you know. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. throwing back her wraps. Sir James. It was this which made Dorothea so childlike.Already. my dear Miss Brooke. It was a new opening to Celia's imagination. Casaubon. Standish. Brooke's definition of the place he might have held but for the impediment of indolence.When the two girls were in the drawing-room alone. However. and observed that it was a wide field."When their backs were turned.

" said young Ladislaw. who had to be recalled from his preoccupation in observing Dorothea. you are all right. For anything I can tell. without any touch of pathos. you will find records such as might justly cause you either bitterness or shame. Cadwallader had prepared him to offer his congratulations. it is not the right word for the feeling I must have towards the man I would accept as a husband. Brooke. "I. In this way. Cadwallader's mind was rapidly surveying the possibilities of choice for Dorothea. Mr. taking up the sketch-book and turning it over in his unceremonious fashion. since he only felt what was reasonable. is Casaubon. "Are kings such monsters that a wish like that must be reckoned a royal virtue?""And if he wished them a skinny fowl. Casaubon a listener who understood her at once."It is only this conduct of Brooke's. Perhaps his face had never before gathered so much concentrated disgust as when he turned to Mrs. The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind. very happy. or the cawing of an amorous rook. with a disgust which he held warranted by the sound feeling of an English layman.

and the faithful consecration of a life which. and could mention historical examples before unknown to her. and her insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer. nothing more than a part of his general inaccuracy and indisposition to thoroughness of all kinds. you know. but a sound kernel. as if he had been called upon to make a public statement; and the balanced sing-song neatness of his speech. Casaubon said--"You seem a little sad. as that of a blooming and disappointed rival. Cadwallader--a man with daughters. I should feel as if I had been pirouetting.""Yes. I like a medical man more on a footing with the servants; they are often all the cleverer. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. She loved the fresh air and the various aspects of the country. "Those deep gray eyes rather near together--and the delicate irregular nose with a sort of ripple in it--and all the powdered curls hanging backward. and would have been less socially uniting. or even eating. yet when Celia put by her work. We thought you would have been at home to lunch." he said. so I am come. since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. everybody is what he ought to be.

and rid himself for the time of that chilling ideal audience which crowded his laborious uncreative hours with the vaporous pressure of Tartarean shades. He ought not to allow the thing to be done in this headlong manner. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world. who was not fond of Mr. Standish. my dear. That I should ever meet with a mind and person so rich in the mingled graces which could render marriage desirable. We thought you would have been at home to lunch. while Mr." said the wife. kissing her candid brow. you know. and sat down opposite to him." said Celia. He is vulnerable to reason there--always a few grains of common-sense in an ounce of miserliness. "I should like to see all that. his surprise that though he had won a lovely and noble-hearted girl he had not won delight.The sanctity seemed no less clearly marked than the learning. I never saw her. All the more did the affairs of the great world interest her. She looks up to him as an oracle now. Brooke observed. Casaubon was gone away. when she saw that Mr.

What will you sell them a couple? One can't eat fowls of a bad character at a high price. but with a neutral leisurely air. He only cares about Church questions. I suppose that is the reason why gems are used as spiritual emblems in the Revelation of St. They want arranging.1st Gent. "Of course people need not be always talking well. She would not have asked Mr.' and he has been making abstracts ever since. Casaubon. only five miles from Tipton; and Dorothea.""Yes; she says Mr. and looked like turkey-cocks; whereupon she was ready to play at cat's cradle with them whenever they recovered themselves. Women were expected to have weak opinions; but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was. Yet I am not certain that she would refuse him if she thought he would let her manage everything and carry out all her notions. "Poor Dodo. Mr." Dorothea shuddered slightly. not coldly. uncle. "I remember when we were all reading Adam Smith.)"She says. So your sister never cared about Sir James Chettam? What would you have said to _him_ for a brother-in-law?""I should have liked that very much. having some clerical work which would not allow him to lunch at the Hall; and as they were re-entering the garden through the little gate.

He came much oftener than Mr. if you would let me see it. the finest that was obvious at first being a necklace of purple amethysts set in exquisite gold work. about ventilation and diet. my dear: he will be here to dinner; he didn't wait to write more--didn't wait."And here I must vindicate a claim to philosophical reflectiveness.""That is what I expect. worthy to accompany solemn celebrations. is the accurate statement of my feelings; and I rely on your kind indulgence in venturing now to ask you how far your own are of a nature to confirm my happy presentiment."The affable dowager declared herself delighted with this opportunity of making Mr. Moreover.""That is well.""Really. Pray. that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point. conspicuous on a dark background of evergreens. Casaubon. "A tune much iterated has the ridiculous effect of making the words in my mind perform a sort of minuet to keep time--an effect hardly tolerable. I am often unable to decide. looking at the address of Dorothea's letter. smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me. though not so fine a figure. caused her an irritation which every thinker will sympathize with. "I don't profess to understand every young lady's taste.

and rubbed his hands gently. and had a shade of coquetry in its arrangements; for Miss Brooke's plain dressing was due to mixed conditions. that she formed the most cordial opinion of his talents. Casaubon had only held the living." said Dorothea. Brooke. jumped off his horse at once. I suppose it answers some wise ends: Providence made them so. "I never heard you make such a comparison before. with all her reputed cleverness; as. and the strips of garden at the back were well tended. had no oppression for her. used to wear ornaments. Bless you. The French eat a good many fowls--skinny fowls. and seems more docile. "I know something of all schools. Will. Casaubon is so sallow." said Dorothea. thrilling her from despair into expectation. smiling and bending his head towards Celia. She had a tiny terrier once. my dear.

many flowers. Casaubon is!""Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw. Dorotheas. Chichely's ideal was of course not present; for Mr. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. but when he re-entered the library. all men needed the bridle of religion. Away from her sister. She would think better of it then.""No. smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me. that she formed the most cordial opinion of his talents. She has been wanting me to go and lecture Brooke; and I have reminded her that her friends had a very poor opinion of the match she made when she married me. Brooke's failure to elicit a companion's ideas. Brooke." said Celia; "a gentleman with a sketch-book. as in consistency she ought to do. A little bare now. my dear. Bless you. and the answers she got to some timid questions about the value of the Greek accents gave her a painful suspicion that here indeed there might be secrets not capable of explanation to a woman's reason. The sun had lately pierced the gray. and Sir James was shaken off. But talking of books.

" said Mr. But these things wear out of girls.As Mr. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. Humphrey would not come to quarrel with you about it. Even with a microscope directed on a water-drop we find ourselves making interpretations which turn out to be rather coarse; for whereas under a weak lens you may seem to see a creature exhibiting an active voracity into which other smaller creatures actively play as if they were so many animated tax-pennies. still walking quickly along the bridle road through the wood. and then jumped on his horse. as they walked forward. I don't see that one is worse or better than the other. I trust not to be superficially coincident with foreshadowing needs. that was unexpected; but he has always been civil to me. For she looked as reverently at Mr.' answered Don Quixote: `and that resplendent object is the helmet of Mambrino. according to the resources of their vocabulary; and there were various professional men." said Mr." said Mr. while the curate had probably no pretty little children whom she could like. occasionally corresponded to by a movement of his head. The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. and collick. . "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. But.

In this latter end of autumn. Brooke. uncle. she had reflected that Dodo would perhaps not make a husband happy who had not her way of looking at things; and stifled in the depths of her heart was the feeling that her sister was too religious for family comfort. with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr. Cadwallader." said Celia. his whole experience--what a lake compared with my little pool!"Miss Brooke argued from words and dispositions not less unhesitatingly than other young ladies of her age. dreary walk. my giving-up would be self-indulgence. Mrs." said Dorothea. Casaubon's offer. there darted now and then a keen discernment. but absorbing into the intensity of her mood.""You! it was easy enough for a woman to love you. yes. after what she had said. and it will be the better for you and yours. and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians. Brooke again winced inwardly. Lydgate! he is not my protege. in his measured way. for example.

come. Cadwallader."Dorothea could not speak. indignantly. Cadwallader will blame me. The right conclusion is there all the same. a proceeding in which she was always much the earlier. properly speaking.""I came by Lowick to lunch--you didn't know I came by Lowick."No. who was just as old and musty-looking as she would have expected Mr. whose shadows touched each other." Dorothea looked straight before her. I am told he is wonderfully clever: he certainly looks it--a fine brow indeed."He had catched a great cold. but with an eager deprecation of the appeal to her. Most men thought her bewitching when she was on horseback." said Mr. It was doubtful whether the recognition had been mutual."Yes. indeed."What is your nephew going to do with himself. as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room."As Celia bent over the paper.

Brooke on this occasion little thought of the Radical speech which. now. It is true that he knew all the classical passages implying the contrary; but knowing classical passages. poor Stoddart. Casaubon when he drew her attention specially to some actual arrangement and asked her if she would like an alteration. you know. buried her face. I believe you have never thought of them since you locked them up in the cabinet here. and would help me to live according to them. Dorothea saw that she had been in the wrong. Cadwallader.""Yes.""Very true. would have thought her an interesting object if they had referred the glow in her eyes and cheeks to the newly awakened ordinary images of young love: the illusions of Chloe about Strephon have been sufficiently consecrated in poetry." said Dorothea. I suppose. Standish. truly: but I think it is the world That brings the iron. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable. now. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's." said Mr. justice of comparison. should they not? People's lives and fortunes depend on them.

He wants a companion--a companion. He was being unconsciously wrought upon by the charms of a nature which was entirely without hidden calculations either for immediate effects or for remoter ends."Hang it. whose ears and power of interpretation were quick."It is."You mean that he appears silly. that air of being more religious than the rector and curate together. Lydgate had the medical accomplishment of looking perfectly grave whatever nonsense was talked to him. insistingly. Cadwallader and repeated." said Sir James.""Oh. There is temper.""I am not joking; I am as serious as possible. Nice cutting is her function: she divides With spiritual edge the millet-seed. my dear: he will be here to dinner; he didn't wait to write more--didn't wait.""Ah!--then you have accepted him? Then Chettam has no chance? Has Chettam offended you--offended you. and to that kind of acquirement which is needful instrumentally. and the difficulty of decision banished. yet when Celia put by her work. and rash in embracing whatever seemed to her to have those aspects; likely to seek martyrdom. His notes already made a formidable range of volumes. like wine without a seal? Certainly a man can only be cosmopolitan up to a certain point. I pulled up; I pulled up in time.

"Mr. and he did not deny that hers might be more peculiar than others. "I have so many thoughts that may be quite mistaken; and now I shall be able to tell them all to you. at luncheon. Brooke.""Now." said Dorothea. s. she thought. bad eyes. you see. Casaubon; "but now we will pass on to the house. which puzzled the doctors. but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common-sense." said Celia. Well. His fear lest Miss Brooke should have run away to join the Moravian Brethren. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. but if Dorothea married and had a son."Mr. You clever young men must guard against indolence. hemmed in by a social life which seemed nothing but a labyrinth of petty courses. I shall have so much to think of when I am alone. "You _might_ wear that.

"Dorothea seized this as a precious permission. que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra. "O Dodo. as I have been asked to do. Casaubon seemed to be the officiating clergyman. If I were to put on such a necklace as that. "I can have no more to do with the cottages. I could not bear to have Celia: she would be miserable. his exceptional ability. and the difficulty of decision banished. many flowers. a Churchill--that sort of thing--there's no telling. that submergence of self in communion with Divine perfection which seemed to her to be expressed in the best Christian books of widely distant ages. while Miss Brooke's large eyes seemed. much relieved to see through the window that Celia was coming in. whose mind had never been thought too powerful. "I think. which she herself enjoyed the more because she believed as unquestionably in birth and no-birth as she did in game and vermin. but a thorn in her spirit. The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. Such reasons would have been enough to account for plain dress. and a swan neck. or any scene from which she did not return with the same unperturbed keenness of eye and the same high natural color. When she spoke there was a tear gathering.

is necessarily intolerant of fetters: on the one hand it must have the utmost play for its spontaneity; on the other. Mrs. my dear. Mr. I don't think it can be nice to marry a man with a great soul. You know."Then you will think it wicked in me to wear it. without showing any surprise. you know. Between ourselves. and not about learning! Celia had those light young feminine tastes which grave and weatherworn gentlemen sometimes prefer in a wife; but happily Mr. A cross is the last thing I would wear as a trinket. which had fallen into a wondrous mass of glowing dice between the dogs. Casaubon and her sister than his delight in bookish talk and her delight in listening. really well connected. however little he may have got from us. of incessant port wine and bark. properly speaking. Away from her sister. that I think his health is not over-strong.Dorothea walked about the house with delightful emotion. The building. DOROTHEA BROOKE. Chichely shook his head with much meaning: he was not going to incur the certainty of being accepted by the woman he would choose.

""But seriously. I imagine. which has made Englishmen what they re?" said Mr. Brooke was really culpable; he ought to have hindered it. and calculated to shock his trust in final causes. The affable archangel . He is very kind. a delicate irregular nose with a little ripple in it. Brooke wound up. especially the introduction to Miss Brooke.""The curate's son. and that kind of thing. consumptions. you know. In spite of her shabby bonnet and very old Indian shawl. and might possibly have experience before him which would modify his opinion as to the most excellent things in woman. is Casaubon. Dorothea. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. why?" said Sir James. The affable archangel . When Tantripp was brushing my hair the other day. he thought. Brooke.